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Nagpur Improvement Trust (NIT) () is a local civic government body with the task of developing new areas within the city limits of
Nagpur Nagpur (pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, aːɡpuːɾ is the third largest city and the winter capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the 13th largest city in India by population and according to an Oxford's Economics report, Nag ...
,
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
and maintaining existing city infrastructure. This trust works along with
Nagpur Municipal Corporation Nagpur Municipal Corporation is the municipal body administering Nagpur, in Maharashtra state in Central India. History Nagpur Municipal Council was established in 1864. At that time, Nagpur Municipal Council's geographical area was 15.5  ...
(NMC) which is an elected body of city representatives (Corporation). NIT itself is not a democratically elected civic body and has members appointed in it from various levels like
Government of Maharashtra The Government of Maharashtra is the state governing authority for the state of Maharashtra, India. It is a democratically elected government with 288 MLAs elected to the Vidhan Sabha for a five-year term. Maharashtra has a Maharashtra Legisla ...
, NMC and other representatives of Nagpur. NIT thus has a small management body as compared to NMC. NIT holds the planning and development authority for Nagpur but does not receive any funds from state government. Funds needed for development work are raised by NIT through the auction of newly developed areas.


Overview

NIT has played a major role in the expansion and maintaining Nagpur in its past 65+ years of work. However, the existence of NIT alongside NMC has been criticized several times as a violation of
constitution of India The Constitution of India (IAST: ) is the supreme law of India. The document lays down the framework that demarcates fundamental political code, structure, procedures, powers, and duties of government institutions and sets out fundamental ri ...
. Several Chief Ministers of Maharashtra and former
Governor of Maharashtra The governor of Maharashtra is the ceremonial head of the state of Maharashtra. The Constitution of India confers the executive powers of the state to the governor, however the de facto executive powers lie with the Council of Ministers. Bhagat ...
tried to abolish this agency but did not succeed. The argument is that the Constitution of India allows only democratically elected bodies to carry out the work of civic administration. Since NIT is not such a body, it has been demanded by several political bodies to abolish the NIT Act of 1936 or to merge NIT with NMC. It has been claimed that due to political reasons state government has failed to take any action till now. However, there are similar organizations like the Mumbai Metropolitan and Area Development Authority (MMRDA), Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and several such agencies that are functioning in the country today and the argument of NIT not fulfilling constitutional requirements has not been substantiated in the courts of law. NIT has also faced criticism from those farmers which had to hand over their lands as per NIT directives and the Urban land ceiling act.


History

Nagpur is an important city in central India and during days of
British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...
two separate committees were formed to look after city's development. The Nagpur Municipal Committee was established in 1864. The Civil Station Sub-Committee was established in 1884. In 1928, the Municipal Committee passed a resolution for creating an "Improvement Trust" for Nagpur which was established in 1937 under the ''Nagpur Improvement Trust Act, 1936''. NIT began functioning in 1937 and has collateral jurisdiction over the areas within the limits of the town wherever schemes are prepared by the trust and approved by the government. After Indian independence, the Town Planning Department was established in 1947 under
Central Provinces and Berar The Central Provinces and Berar was a province of British India and later the Dominion of India which existed from 1903 to 1950. It was formed by the merger of the Central Provinces with the province of Berar, which was territory leased by the B ...
State Town Planning Expert with head office at Nagpur. The Department functioned under the administrative control of the local Self-Government Department. The ''Central Provinces and Berar Town Planning Act'' was enacted in 1948 and the ''Central Provinces and Berar Regulation of Uses of Land Act'' was also enacted in the same year to provide for the making and execution of town planning schemes and to regulate the development of areas with the object of securing proper sanitary conditions, amenities and convenience to persons living in such areas and in neighboring areas. Later with creation of
Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...
, Nagpur became part of Maharashtra. A new branch office of this department came into existence at Nagpur for the four districts of Nagpur,
Chandrapur Chandrapur (earlier known as ''Chanda'', the official name until 1964) is a city and a municipal corporation in Chandrapur district, Maharashtra state, India. It is the district headquarters of Chandrapur district. Chandrapur is a fort city ...
,
Wardha Wardha is a city and a municipal council in Wardha district in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the administrative headquarters of Wardha district. Wardha gets its name from the Wardha River which flows at the north, west and south bounda ...
and
Bhandara Bhandara () is a city and municipal council which serves the administrative headquarters of eponymous administrative Bhandara Taluka and Bhandara district in the state of Maharashtra, India. It is connected with NH-53 and NH-247. Overview ...
. The Nagpur department continued to function along with NMC.


Organization

NIT board members include - # A Chairman, who is a senior Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer (currently Dr.Deepak Mhaisekar ) # Commissioner of
Nagpur Municipal Corporation Nagpur Municipal Corporation is the municipal body administering Nagpur, in Maharashtra state in Central India. History Nagpur Municipal Council was established in 1864. At that time, Nagpur Municipal Council's geographical area was 15.5  ...
. # Deputy Director of Town Planning for Nagpur Division. # Chairman of
Standing Committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...
. # One Corporation elected by NMC. # A member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly who is a resident of Nagpur. # Three members appointed by the State
Government of Maharashtra The Government of Maharashtra is the state governing authority for the state of Maharashtra, India. It is a democratically elected government with 288 MLAs elected to the Vidhan Sabha for a five-year term. Maharashtra has a Maharashtra Legisla ...
.


Work

Nagpur Improvement Trust has played a major role in transforming Nagpur into a mega city. Its major responsibilities include - housing schemes, rebuilding of certain city pockets, maintaining city streets, drainage, sanitation, and other city improvement schemes. The NIT act of 1936 allows NIT to acquire land from surrounding rural areas to develop into new urban layouts. Money needed to acquire these lands and develop them is recovered back by the auction to general public when they are ready. Once a new area of the city is developed by NIT it is handed back to NMC for maintenance. NMC then recovers the money in form of various taxes from the residents of which two percent is given back to NIT. NIT in turn has the responsibility to provide drinking water and sewage disposal for these areas. NIT also distributes significant land acquired to weaker sections of the society at considerably lower rates. NIT also undertakes the work of regularization of unauthorized residential zones. NIT is also responsible for maintaining the 8 major gardens and 40 mini gardens in Nagpur. Various lakes and city monuments that come under the jurisdiction of local bodies are maintained by NIT. It has recently started a project to rejuvenate the
Futala Lake Futala Lake is a lake in Nagpur in the Indian state of Maharashtra. The lake covers . Built by the Bhosle kings of Nagpur, the lake is known for its coloured fountains. In the evenings the site is illuminated with halogen lights and Tanga (carri ...
in the city. NIT is also working on rejuvenating the
Indira Gandhi Government Medical College, Nagpur Indira Gandhi Government Medical College & Hospital ''(IGGMCH)'' (also known as Mayo Hospital) established in 1968 is located in Central Nagpur. run by the Government of Maharashtra. It is one of the Three Government Medical Colleges in Nagpu ...
on a Build-Operate-Transfer basis. In 2007, NIT unveiled the plans for setting up the
Nagpur Metropolitan Region Development Authority The Nagpur Metropolitan Region Development Authority (NMRDA) is the urban planning agency of Nagpur in the Indian state of Maharashtra. The NMRDA administers the Nagpur Metropolitan Region, spread over an area of . It replaced the erstwhile Nagp ...
(NMRDA). NIT was given the status of development authority by the state government and it has identified a total area of 3780 km2 for the
Greater Nagpur Metropolitan Area The Nagpur metropolitan area or Greater Nagpur is a metropolitan area in Indian state of Maharashtra. History In 1999, a notification was sent out by the State of Maharashtra announced the Nagpur Metropolitan Area, comprising Nagpur City, Nag ...
excluding the area under NMC limits. The first phase of this Nagpur Metropolitan Region is to cover 1,520 km2 of area. NIT is also planning to build a monorail in Nagpur.
Maharashtra Airport Development Company Maharashtra Airport Development Company Limited abbreviated as (MADC), is a Special Purpose Company constituted in 2002 by the Government of Maharashtra (GoM) to plan, construct, operate and maintain airports in the State. The government has en ...
(MADC) which is currently building
MIHAN The Multi-modal International Cargo Hub and Airport at Nagpur (MIHAN) is an airport project for Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport, Nagpur. It is the biggest economical development project currently underway in India in terms of invest ...
in Nagpur has also shown keen interest in the project.


References

{{Authority control Government of Nagpur State urban development authorities of India Organizations established in 1937 1937 establishments in India